home to the lil' quirky side of my brain that is philosophical, imaginative and mildly sadistic

02 July 2010

So Najib has a new kitten

I don’t read the papers. I’m not interested in politics. I knew because dad called, and joked that someone named his kitten ‘Rosmah”. The prime minister was looking for suggestions from the readers of his blog on what to name his kitten, and many typical ass kissers said “1 M”.

It was pretty obvious to me that he was trying to imitate the US president by having a presidential pet. Perhaps I am a skeptic, but I just didn’t think that the heart was there. As usual, it was a call for votes.

I think he screwed up. buying a kitten was so wrong, and wrong not because he wanted to ‘act’, but wrong because he failed to set an example to Malaysians. He mentioned that BUYING the kitten was a spur of the moment decision – it implies that he never even intended to keep a pet. Either that, or it was about an article a found from an animal rights blog written a few months back saying that Najib does not care for animals and they are of the least interest to him, because animals can’t vote.

I somehow believe that it was not a spur of the moment purchase, but more of a planned political propaganda gone wrong. Well I believe I know where he went wrong.

He should have just adopted a kitten from a shelter instead of buying it. This is what all animal rights activists would say. They believe in helping the animals that are already in need, and adopting them at a small fee that would benefit the shelter and enable them to help even more animals. It is about giving them a second chance, and him, of all people, should have set an example. I can just imagine all the kiss ass people who would follow his trail and adopt a pet from a shelter if only he set the right path. But I guess he didn’t have enough passion to think that far. Simply picking up a cat this way won’t do, Mr. PM.

I think that many people pick up pets from pet shops or breeders because that is where pedigrees come from. I think most Malaysians carry this materialistic attitude where they put a price tag to everything, even pets. If my local breed dog happened to give birth to 8 mongrel puppies, I believe I would have a hard time giving them away, because to people, they are dogs that are well, not very beautiful and not worth a lot of money. They see having to feed and care for the dogs a chore. However, if I were to have 8 pedigrees, and I called people up saying I wanted to give them away, I’m sure those who never really wanted a dog would quickly take all my pedigree pups, because, sad to say, they ARE more beautiful, and they have a price tag that is of at least RM500 on them. In short, it makes their owners look good – better than having a mongrel. Which is why, I feel that Najib has failed to take the chance that could help change people’s mindsets about pets. People fail to see that a pet isn’t a deco in the house to make you or the house look better, but to love and be loved by in return.